How Not To Be 'Age Discriminated' - Mature Age Candidate LinkedIn Profile Tips

Revving up your LinkedIn profile is a great place to start for mature age job seeker

By all measures, LinkedIn is THE Professional Networking website

Everyone knows it and everyone uses it

If you’re not on it, then you’re already behind the eight ball

Your number one priority, as a mature-aged job seeker is to get onto LinkedIn quickly and create a top-notch LinkedIn profile

Engage a professional writer or career coach if you have to - but do not underestimate or ignore the power and importance of your LinkedIn profile – it is your key step to getting an interview – full stop…

I’ve even had some hiring people tell me if someone can’t be bothered to have a decent presence on LinkedIn, they assume that person is not serious about their career

Rightly or wrongly…it matters, at least to many hiring decision makers it matters

The reality of the hiring landscape means the days of mailing the old paper resume into a company are long gone

And not just the hiring landscape, the interview landscape is all about the virtual interview and yup, many jobs are fully remote / hybrid and going back to paper and the office full time – well – that’s a far-off memory for many jobs

Everything happens online

You can scoff and cling to the old ways, but all that’s going to get you is the bottom of the pile in this ultra-hot job market

Many hiring companies are by-passing the recruiters and looking for viable candidates for their job roles directly on LinkedIn

If you’re not on there, then how can you be found?

It stuns me when I look through LinkedIn and see people with only a few hundred connections and not even a picture

Sure – you’re in a secure job in a large corporate and have been for many years

Sure – you’ve got your own network of contacts

Sure – your mate in Company XYZ will look after you

But… the reality is your company may lay off a few hundred or even a few thousand people next week and then what do you do?

The bills are still coming but the money’s stopped????

Many people I work with landed their next roles by being found on LinkedIn

It’s happening more and more, so don’t be out of the running by disregarding the importance of a great LinkedIn profile

With so many businesses using social media to build their brands, they at least want to see that job candidates are somewhat digitally fluent

Aside from showcasing your professional experience, your LinkedIn profile can be your place to demonstrate that you are moving with the digital times

The top three things to nail on LinkedIn are: 

YOUR HEADLINE

If you understand copywriting and marketing, you’ll know that a great headline gets attention

YOUR ABOUT OR SUMMARY SECTION

LinkedIn gives you 2,600 characters to craft a professional story

Make your story shine

Use that section to weave an interesting story about your experience, skills, achievements and throw in a healthy dose of personality

People will connect quicker and easier to you if have an interesting professional story

Stories sell

They have since the dawn of time, and they still do now

RECOMMENDATIONS

Gather recommendations particularly from your managers or happy clients

Testimonials / recommendations are the online world’s ‘word of mouth’ and recruiters and hiring managers will always go look at your recommendations

They want to know what it was like for others who have worked with you

Add the personal touch when requesting a recommendation

Don’t send out LinkedIn’s default request

You could simply add a sentence saying; 

 ‘Hi Tom/Sue, I’m working on uplifting my LinkedIn profile and would appreciate it if you’d write me an honest recommendation based on the time we worked together at Company X’

Having a great LinkedIn profile is part of the wholistic process to get your dream job, pay and perks